SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The No. 14 Shippensburg men's basketball team withstood multiple runs Friday from Bloomsburg in a fierce Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division matchup to win 79-75 at Heiges Field House and remain unbeaten on the season.
 
Shippensburg (12-0, 8-0 PSAC) maintained its distance from the Huskies for much of the evening, but Bloomsburg refused to go away. SU led by as many as 15 in the first half before Bloomsburg (6-6, 2-6) closed the first half on a 13-0 run to cut the lead to two points. The Huskies' Christian Mortellite drilled a three-pointer to open the second half to push Bloomsburg in front by a point, but SU senior Abe Massaley responded with a layup and the Raiders led for the rest of the game.
 
Junior Dustin Sleva provided another fine stat line with 19 points, 15 rebounds and five assists. It was the second consecutive game in which Sleva totaled at least 15 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. Junior Justin McCarthur scored well again on his way to 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Massaley had 15 points and four assists while sophomore Antonio Kellem scored 13 points and played outstanding defense on Mortellite.
 
Mortellite, who entered third in the PSAC with 22.5 points per game, was limited to 13 points on 4-of-11 shooting as Kellem gave him very little room to breath all night. It was just the second time this season that Mortellite didn't reach 20 points.
 
Bloomsburg was buoyed by the standout performance by Carnell McGirt, who totaled 26 points and six rebounds in just 23 minutes. He helped the Huskies come within one point on four separate occasions in the last five minutes of the second half, but each time the Raiders had a response. However, SU couldn't quite put away Bloomsburg as the Raiders were an uncharacteristic 6-of-11 from the free throw line in the second half.
 
Leading by three points with 17 seconds left, SU missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw opportunity, but Bloomsburg missed a three-pointer on the ensuing possession and the Raiders secured the rebound. However, the Raiders then missed two more free throws, but the Raiders alertly fouled Mortellite in the backcourt so he would have to shoot two foul shots with three seconds remaining. Mortellite made the first and missed the second purposely, on which Sophomore Manny Span grabbed the rebound and then made two foul shots to ice the game.
 
Span, in just his third game back from a knee injury, provided a huge boost off the bench with eight points and three rebounds in 14 minutes as freshman John Castello fouled out with 7:45 remaining. Castello had seven points and 10 rebounds.
 
The Raiders entered Friday's game as one of seven unbeaten teams in Division II and will try to improve their school-record start to this season Monday at Mansfield with a 7:30 tip-off from Decker Gymnasium.